In news that will come as a surprise to nobody familiar with recent events. Troubled internet service provider ZYBRE (Air Broadband) has replaced the front page of their website with a notice to say they’ve “decided to cease taking on new customers” due to “continued pressures” that they’ve “not been able to overcome“. The ISP […]

Some customers of BT’s consumer products are being invited to trial TNT Sport ahead of the big rebranding under a new joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, which is currently scheduled to take place from 18th July. TNT Sports is the new name for BTSport – offering exclusive live TV sport (Premier League, UEFA Leagues […]

Press Release

Cisco and AT&T announced new solutions to enhance connectivity and advance the calling landscape for hybrid workforces. Whether on the shop floor, the top floor, at the branch office, the home office, or the commute in between, the modern workforce is not tethered to a single space, device, or geography. With the new offerings, including Cisco’s Webex Calling and SD-WAN solutions alongside AT&T mobile network, businesses of any size can offer employees a simple, secure, consistent experience to thrive in any setting. 

Seamless, Flexible and Native Integration with Webex Calling

The companies today announced plans that will help ensure a seamless and reliable mobile-first collaboration experience, allowing users the flexibility to take calls across multiple devices while traveling for work, running errands, and more.

With the dramatic increase in the use of mobile phones as the primary business device, enterprises need connectivity solutions that are easy to manage, secure, and provide the flexibility and reliability desired for work from anywhere. This integration addresses this need with key features including:

Single number mobile identity: Combining the capabilities of an AT&T wireless smartphone with the native integration of Webex Calling will provide greater functionality and flexibility for on-the-go communication.
Reduce costs: This integration helps enterprise customers lower costs by reducing or eliminating the need for traditional fixed business lines.
Crystal clear voice: AT&T Cloud Voice with Webex Go allows users to securely make and receive business calls using AT&T’s fast, reliable nationwide mobile network and seamlessly elevate calls to a fully immersive Webex collaboration experience across the Webex App and devices[1], with capabilities like closed captioning, noise removal, and white boarding.
Fast, efficient, and secure collaboration: AT&T and Cisco’s joint solution will increase the ability to effectively and securely collaborate no matter the location, resulting in improved knowledge sharing and faster decision making.

AT&T Cloud Voice with Webex Go[2] will be available for all Webex Calling users from Cisco partners in the United States later this year.

SD-WAN Connectivity without Compromise

Demand for unified experiences over secure connectivity to the cloud and site-to-site continues to surge. Cisco and AT&T are working together to bring secure on-demand connectivity with SD-WAN over mobile 5G and fiber broadband to businesses of every size.

For small and medium businesses, AT&T is launching a new self-service option to simplify and accelerate SD-WAN deployment. Businesses can now easily connect, protect, manage, and scale their networks using AT&T Business Wi-Fi with Cisco Meraki.

For larger enterprises, AT&T SD-WAN with Cisco is a fully managed connectivity solution with embedded security and analytics. Enterprises can now confidently connect a user or device to any application in their multicloud using a secure access service edge (SASE)-enabled architecture. This delivers integrated security and application optimization for end-to-end visibility.

Cisco will also provide the ability to embed AT&T wireless connectivity into Cisco devices enabling zero touch provisioning for Cisco and AT&T customers, through AT&T Control Center powered by Cisco.

“The network is at the core of the modern workforce. The ability to get things done is no longer reliant on where you are, but how you are connected,” said Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Networking. “Hybrid work only works when experiences are unified—simple, secure, and consistent. Together with AT&T, we are giving businesses what they need to securely connect everything and everyone—wherever they are. Because when everything is connected, then anything is possible.”

“Mobility is key to enabling hybrid work. Businesses want a seamless and reliable communication experience,” said Mike Troiano, Senior Vice President, Product & Pricing, AT&T. “At the heart of our collaboration with Cisco is a shared vision to empower organizations with secure connectivity, unmatched reliability, and deep network expertise. By deeply integrating our technology, businesses can be assured their communications are built on a solid foundation. Together we are unlocking new levels of productivity, agility, and connectivity— enabling teams to thrive in the modern work landscape.”

[1] Requires compatible device; not available in all areas.

[2] Customers will need to procure and pay for the required AT&T Wireless CRU Plan from AT&T or authorized AT&T partner and Webex Calling License and required Webex GO-M SKU from Webex Reseller/VAR.

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA), which is an arm’s length body of the UK government that exists to tackle unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports, has today recommend the introduction of new trade remedies to protect the country’s optical fibre industry from “harm caused by low-priced imports from China“. Optical fibre cables transmit […]

As the UK rollout of full fibre (FTTP) broadband gathers pace, Openreach (BT) are increasingly turning their attention to the challenge of how to extract all of that valuable copper leftover from their legacy phone network. Initial trials have already taken place, and they now expect to extract over 200 tonnes of copper cable this […]

VIEWPOINT

Digital Realty has been a proud sponsor of Submarine Networks EMEA for several years, showcasing its strong alignment to the subsea community. As a provider of carrier neutral data center facilities and Cable Landing Stations, Digital Realty plays a vital role in establishing the connectivity ecosystem.

In this interview, Wilfried Dudink, Senior Director – Strategy & Development at Digital Realty, emphasises the company’s relationship with the subsea community and the importance of the conference.

 

For more insights from the event: https://events.digitalrealty.com/submarinenetworksemeablog/totaltele

News

On Thursday Mark Zuckerberg revealed his plans regarding AI to Meta employees during an all-hands meeting. An aggressive push forwards is based, he says, on “really incredible breakthroughs – qualitative breakthroughs – on generative AI” and in a statement to news platform Axios revealed that this gave the opportunity to “take that technology, push it forward, and build it into every single one of our products,”

In reality, this means that generative AI text, image and video generators will be integrated into existing products including Facebook and Instagram, as well as being included in new products such as the inhouse Metamate – a productivity assistant that takes information from internal company systems to answer queries and perform tasks.

For the consumer this could mean AI tools such as ChatGPT-style chatbots for Messenger and WhatsApp and an Instagram feature that could use text prompts to modify user photos.

As recently as last month, head of infrastructure Santosh Janardhan had admitted that despite high-profile investments in AI research Meta had “significant gap in our tooling, workflows and processes when it comes to developing for AI.” And went on to say that supporting AI needed Meta to “fundamentally shift our physical infrastructure design, our software systems, and our approach to providing a stable platform”.

According to The Verge, during the meeting, Zuckerberg also commented on his vision for headsets. He explained that he didn’t envisage a person sitting on a couch by themself, as per Apple demos, but instead saw a more social vision for the metaverse and presence that was “about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer”.

How can telco companies use the metaverse? Join David Palmer – Vodafone Business, Elmar Arunov – Deutsche Telekom, Cristina Bueti – International Telecommunication Union and Masarra Mohamed – IDC at this years Total Telecom Congress. FIND OUT MORE

VIEWPOINT

The Chinese service providers have accelerated their journey towards 5.5G. A case in point is the recent launch of the Dual 10 Gigabit City project by China Mobile Hangzhou and Huawei on the occasion of the 55th World Telecommunications Day. The project is designed to use 5G-Advanced or 5.5G technology to build the next-generation infrastructure to boost Hangzhou’s digital economy.

“From the mobile Internet capital to a city of innovation and vitality, Hangzhou has always been a pioneer and stayed ahead of the pack in digital and intelligent development. It was the first city in China to deploy 4G and 5G, the first to have both 5G and F5G, and the first to deploy ubiquitous gigabit networks. Today, we are launching the campaign themed ‘building a dual 10 gigabit city to enjoy smart Asian Games’. This is another journey we just started to make Hangzhou a better place in the new era with our dedicated efforts,” said Wang Wensheng, General Manager of China Mobile Hangzhou, at the launch of the Dual 10 Gigabit City project.

Turning The Vision of Dual 10 Gigabit City Into Reality

As part of this prestigious project, China Mobile Hangzhou will work with industry partners, like Huawei, to fast-track industry application incubation and large-scale commercial use. Furthermore, China Mobile Hangzhou and its partners will promote the evolution toward glasses-free 3D. Besides, they will create Asian Games application benchmarks for the electric power and logistics industries, enabling intelligent connectivity of everything. Lastly, China Mobile Hangzhou will advance the development of the IoV industry by building a demo route of integrated communications and sensing for the Asian Games.

The 5.5G technology is the next stage in the 5G development and significantly improves its capabilities. It improves 5G network capabilities by 10 times and enables 10 Gbit/s rates, deterministic experience, all-scenario IoT, and integrated sensing and communications. Chinese service providers have taken the lead in developing the 5.5G ecosystem.

Hangzhou was the first city in China to achieve ubiquitous 5G coverage and today, 5G traffic accounts for over 65% of all mobile traffic, ranking first in China. China Mobile Hangzhou continues to lead in new 5G development models in terms of networks, operations, applications, technologies, and ecosystem. Hangzhou has ensured the complete coverage of F5G-enabled gigabit optical access city-wide and large-scale OXC applications. In addition, Hangzhou has built a private optical transmission network (OTN) for Asian Games broadcast and video streaming.

On the other hand, China Mobile Zhejiang recently completed the verification of four key technologies of 5.5G: ultra-large uplink, real-time broadband interaction, integrated sensing and communications, and passive IoT, in Hangzhou in 2022.

Leveraging Winning Partnerships to Realize 5.5G Vision

Huawei is helping China Mobile Hangzhou accomplish its vision of building a Dual 10 gigabit city. China Mobile Hangzhou and Huawei successfully completed the first 5.5G to reach a peak rate of over 10Gbps, using 5G-Advanced ultra-large antenna arrays and 8-stream MIMO, in March earlier this year. The service provider followed this by working with Huawei and NARI Group to complete the world’s first 5G-enabled end-to-end commercial RedCap pilot for the power sector at State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company.

In addition, China Mobile Hangzhou, together with Huawei and other industry partners, showcased on-demand and live-streaming end-to-end glasses-free 3D applications for a wide range of glasses-free 3D devices, such as mobile phones, notebooks, and tablets. This is a crucial application and will allow the viewers to enjoy the upcoming Asian Games in the city of Hangzhou. The initiative also helped China Mobile Hangzhou emerge as the first service provider in the industry to build the entire glasses-free 3D application value chain across content, platforms, networks, and devices.

Another significant step is the completion of the world’s first 5G-Advanced premium demo line from the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center to the Asian Games Village in May 2023. Executed by China Mobile Hangzhou and Huawei, the line recorded a peak rate of 10 Gbit/s and an average rate of 5 Gbps on May 15.

In addition, China Mobile Hangzhou and Huawei have also tested and verified 50G PON. The test showed that the transmission rate of the 50G PON prototype was more than four times that of the current XG-PON, with the uplink latency down by more than 50%.

“Huawei and China Mobile Hangzhou will work with other industry partners to integrate 5G-Advanced and F5G-Advanced in these business scenarios. We are committed to making Hangzhou a dual 10 gigabit city to allow people to enjoy smart Asian Games. We will also continue to support China Mobile Hangzhou in improving its communications network capabilities and building next-generation infrastructure in order to facilitate the high-quality development of the digital economy,” said Chen Chuanfei, Chief Strategy Officer of Huawei Wireless Network Product Line at the launch of Dual 10 Gigabit Smart City.

China Mobile Shanghai Initiates Transition From Dual Gigabit to Double 10GbE

China Mobile Hangzhou is not the only service provider to advance towards 5.5G. China Mobile Shanghai and Huawei jointly released the first 5G-A intelligent 10GbE city, to enable Shanghai to move from Dual Gigabit to Double 10GbE era.

China Mobile Shanghai is a pioneer and started building dual gigabit networks way back in 2018, enabling it to take the lead in terms of the number of 5G base stations, coverage rate and gigabit broadband penetration rate. In addition, China Mobile Shanghai has accelerated the evolution from 5G to 5G-Advanced by opening the country’s first 160M 2.6GHz network in the main urban area with plans to expand the network in the entire city soon.

Wrapping Up

China Mobile Hangzhou and China Mobile Shanghai have set the benchmark of leveraging 5.5G technology to create relevant use cases that improve people’s lives. As the 5G ecosystem continues to grow, the service providers should take a cue from the Chinese telcos and fast-track the adoption of 5.5G so they can provide new and innovative use cases to their customers while growing their revenue.

More significant industry influence and exploration in 5.5G will be showcased by Telcos during the upcoming Mobile World Congress at Shanghai from June 28-30, 2023 at Shanghai New International Expo Center.

British registered OneWeb, which is part-owned by the UK government, and Eutelsat have demonstrated how fast the company’s new global constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based broadband satellites can operate when connected to one of Kymeta’s Hawk u8 user terminals, mounted on a 4×4 Land Rover Discovery. The company’s Proof of Concept (PoC) test, […]

News

Reports suggest that private equity firm KKR could slightly increase its bid for TIM’s broadband network, while the CDP is unlikely to budge from its original offer

This week marks a major turning point Italy’s incumbent operator TIM, which will soon need to decide whether to move forward with the sale of its fibre network or else rethink its strategy.

At the start of 2022, TIM’s CEO Pietro Labriola outlined a new strategic plan to help the operator cut its roughly €30 billion in debt. Alongside various job cuts and other streamlining efforts, the plan included spinning off the company’s infrastructure into a separate NetCo to entice investment.

Interest in the would-be unit was immediate. US investment firm KKR – already a major stakeholder in the company’s ‘last mile’ network unit FiberCop – quickly presented TIM with a bid for the unit for an undisclosed sum. Shortly after, the state lender the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), one of TIM’s major investors, presented a counterbid in partnership with Macquarie Asset Management, prompting TIM to launch a formal auction for the NetCo.

KKR quickly increased its bid to €21 billion, eclipsing the CDP’s bid of €19.3 billion. Subsequent reports last month suggesting that the CDP would be unwilling to increase its own bid any further and could withdraw from the process altogether.

Now, the final deadline for bids for the unit is tomorrow, with insiders suggesting that the CDP’s bid remains broadly unchanged, while KKR may slightly increase.

But despite this bidding improvement, TIM is unlikely to be overjoyed at the prospect of a sale at this price. The operator’s key stakeholder Vivendi has strongly opposed the sale of the network unit under the current conditions, repeatedly suggesting that the company’s assets are being undervalued by up to €10 billion.

According to reports, TIM’s board is divided over whether to move forward with an offer or reject the bids in favour of re-evaluating their options.

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